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| Italian Laborers |
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The attention of the State of Connecticut Labor Bureau was called in January to certain alleged impositions on Italian laborers employed by Bridgeport contractors, Messrs. O'Brien, Sheehan, and McHale upon railroad improvements in the western part of that city. It was charged that the laborers were obliged to
submit to the "padrone" and "barracks" systems, instituted by one Dominic Marino of Boston, who contracted with the construction firm to supply a portion of the laborers, or lose their employment; that the building that the Italians were housed was inadequate and unhealthy; and that they were compelled to buy provisions from Marino's agents at exorbitant prices…Mr. H.A. Stocking of New Britain was appointed to inform the laborers of their rights and to prevent as far as possible any illegal advantage being taken of them. Mr. Stocking spent three days in Bridgeport, and his investigations established the fact that the charges were substantially true. The "barracks" was an old carriage shop, fitted with plank bunks and straw bags, for the use of which the Italians were charged $1.25 per month each. Two men were placed in a space too small for one, and two small stoves afforded the only cooking facilities. The sanitary conditions were deplorable. The prices charged for provisions in some cases exceeded market price by 100%. As soon as this condition of affairs was given publicity, the "padrones" reduced the price of provisions; and the day after the appointment of the special agent, the burning of the building gave the Italians their liberty. Mr. Marino's agents promised the Bureau's representative that the barracks system would not be revived, and that the men would be allowed to buy where ever they desired…The settlement was satisfactory to all concerned." Excerpted from "Italian Difficulty at Bridgeport," State of Connecticut, Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Year Ended November 30, 1900 (Hartford Press: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1900), Public Document No. 23, pp. 221-224. |